Who Are You ?

What God’s Word says is what you should build and root your identity in. You need to know who you are and Whose you are. Then, your daily actions and activities will derive out of your identity in Christ.

Our choices, decisions in life, frame of thinking and actions we take all come out of the overflow or lack of identity in Christ. Every action that you’ve made from the time you were born until today have all been influenced by this. You did that deed, you thought that way, you made that decision out of the lack or overflow of that you are accepted, God loves you and He approves of you. When you do not act out of the overflow of God’s acceptance, love, and approval, you act out of the need for acceptance, affection and approval. Any product of approval, affection or love that you pay for will always be overpriced.

Many of us are dealing with things in our adult lives which we had neglected in our youth and teenage years. As part of the family of God, we don’t work out of the need to get approval; we work out of His approval. Don’t work out of the need to be accepted; work out of the fact that God has already accepted you as His own.

The book of Ephesians is often called the “queen of the epistles.” It is like a Reader's Digest condensed version of the whole story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. In one short book, the apostle Paul teaches in glorious detail what Christ's death on the cross accomplished for us, the seriousness of our need as sinners that caused God to do this, and the ways this gospel changes us practically.

Paul presents in Ephesians a great manual on “gospel-centered” living. He uses the phrases with Christ, in Christ, through Christ, with Him, in Him, and through Him over 30 times in Ephesians' six short chapters. The gospel, we see, has not just given us access to God through Christ, but it has also included us in Christ. It has sealed us in Him—a phrase that would sound blasphemous if the Bible did not say it first.

"In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13, NASB).

Our inclusion into Christ changes everything. It gives us a brand new identity—righteous, virtuous and powerful—because it is His identity.

Our identity is our sense of self. It is the thing that gives us continuity in how we interact with others despite changes in our circumstances. We often identify ourselves by lesser things than how God identifies us. Some of us identify ourselves by our career, our relationship status, or our children.

Jesus Christ, along with all His name invokes, defines me both here on earth and for eternity in heaven. He is my identity because I am in Him.

Practically speaking, when I mix up my roles at any given stage of life with my ultimate identity, I end up in idolatry. At the stage of life I am now as a father, and writer, and having children they cannot be my identity. I cannot pin all of my hopes for the future on their personal successes. It is not fair to them, and it keeps me from placing my hope for the future in God’s hands. They become my idols when I do that.

I also cannot place my hopes for feeling good about myself on the posts I write on Facebook,and the other groups I do have on Facebook. It did not take long after publishing my first post to receive criticism from a reviewer. I figured out quickly that I would be undone if I allowed the way my posts were received to make me feel good or bad about myself. Instead, God calls me to be a good steward of my roles as a father, Dad and writer, not an idolater who looks to his friends, children, or posts (or whatever stewardship God has given at the time) for his sense of personal achievement.

The problem with idols is not that they will not affirm us and satisfy us in the way that we long. The problem is they cannot. It is not in their power. We devastate relationships in our lives when we look to certain people to meet needs in us God never intended them to meet.

A spouse, friend, or child may try for a season to fill those needs and make us happy, but at some point, they will become so discouraged by the utter depth of our need and our inability to be satisfied with anything they do that they will push us away, perhaps even severing the relationship completely.

Jesus alone is our ultimate source of identity. But what exactly does it mean for us to find our identity in Christ? The Bible uses several word pictures which I find helpful to communicate the details of our relationship with Christ. The Word paints believers at multiple places in Scripture as, first, Christ's cherished bride.

“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ ... And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy" (Hos. 2:16, 19).

The Bible also gives the illustration of Christ as the vine in which believers are the branches: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-2, 4-5).

"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way" (Eph. 1:22-23).

All three of these illustrations point to the intimate union between Christ and His church. Colossians 1:17 says that Christ “is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” We are in Him, and He holds it all in unity. If you belong to God, then you are supernaturally connected to Christ along with all of God's children.
Instead of seeing myself as connected to Christ at all times, I used to view my relationship with God in terms of intersecting moments during the day. The more times my life intersected with God in a given week, the more “spiritual” I thought I was. In that paradigm, God went on His way and I went on my way until we intersected at some corner on some future day.

Instead, I have learned to think of myself walking with Jesus continually, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Our daily walk together is not just parallel but actually intertwined. I, of course, do not take full advantage of that walk with Him all day every day, but I am learning that it is indeed my reality, and the more I am aware of it, the more stable I am emotionally and spiritually. If you are a believer, God is with you, in you, holding you together at all times. The goal is for us to be aware of that reality and live like it is true, for Christ warns us that apart from Him we can do nothing.

In John 15, when talking of the vine and branches, Christ says, “Abide in Me.” The Greek word for abide is meno, meaning "to remain, tarry, be held or be kept continually." There are two mental pictures in the Bible that seem to contradict each other.

We just discussed those pictures that show us united with God the Son, Jesus Christ. But the Bible also invites us to boldly and confidently enter the presence of God the Father at His Throne of Grace. Instead of contradicting each other, these pictures enhance each other in my mind.

We are children of God who are both passively connected to God and actively encouraged to seek His presence. These dueling images of abiding free us from both legalism and apathy. I am kept secure in Christ through no work of my own, yet God calls me to actively participate in using the resources provided to me through this union.

Christ is my perfect Bridegroom. I am connected to Him as a branch is to a vine and as a body is to its head. From Him, I get the nourishment I need to live out my part in His larger story. He is the answer to the misplaced desires predicted for women and men in the curse of Genesis 3:16.

He nourishes, sustains and equips you and I. God, through Jesus, affirms us, speaking deep words of grace and purpose over us. The core longings of our hearts for relationship and identity are perfectly fulfilled in Him. I encourage you to take time to read the entirety of Paul's beautiful description in Ephesians 1 of the blessings from this union we have with Christ.

The world has adapted a way of thinking that you have to do something to be something. If you do not live a life on purpose, you will not walk in the fullness of what God has for you.

Jesus was accepted before the journey and He was accepted for the journey. Everyone will face a wilderness season in life, but we can face it with a God who has already overcome for us (John 16:33).

What matters is not how good your good times are, not how pretty your house gets to look but how solid is your foundation. For then, even in the storms, the house will stand to the glory of God. I implore you today, build your life on the Rock of Ages because when your family, marriage, health, or career fails, God’s Word doesn’t.

An identity that is rooted in the world, produces an ‘if belief’. ‘If God does something, I will serve Him’. An identity that is rooted in the Word of God produces an ‘even if’ belief like we see in Daniel 3:17-8. This type of faith says, ‘Even if my finances don’t increase, my health doesn’t improve, my family doesn’t reunite, I will serve the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings!’

While you can derive your identity in what you have accomplished or what you are able to do, you should derive your identity from who God says that you are.